Hide and Seek
by luvhp123
Summary: Jade has secrets that she prefers to keep under wraps. It's safer for her and her daughter that way. But when her friend Steve reveals what has been hiding in SHIELD's shadows, she'll have to make some new decisions.
1. Prologue

**I do not own any MCU characters, plotlines, or anything else you may recognize.**

**Prologue**

_June, 1992_

"And then the dragon flew across the whole wide world to show the prince how fast he was and the prince told the dragon that he could be his noble steed until happy ever after."

The young girl was out in her backyard, playing in her sandbox. Her toy dragon and Ken doll were being used to act out the scene she was creating. As she threw the dragon in the air to show the prince how fast it could go, it landed on the right outside of the tiny sandbox. The girl stretched out her arm to grab her toy, but she could not yet reach it. She leaned over, getting sand in her bright red jumpsuit in her attempt to get a hold of it. She stretched and stretched, willing it to come closer, even though that was impossible. She thought it was impossible, that is, until the dragon began to jiggle in the grass.

The little girl gasped and shot back up to her original sitting position, looking all around the dragon to see if there was anything near it that could have moved it. She lifted her hand to her face, scrutinizing it as though it were a foreign object.

She pointed her arm towards the dragon again, attempting to do her previous action once more. She concentrated so hard that she began to get a headache. After a few minutes, she was about to give up when the dragon began jiggling again, harder than before. Excited, she stood up and ran into her house, leaving her toys in the sandbox. She arrived in the small but well-stocked kitchen and grabbed one of her old sippy cups. She placed it on the counter, pulled up a chair to sit on, and holding her hands out in front of it, concentrated with all her might to tip over the cup. After many seconds of inactivity, the cup began to jiggle, just as the dragon had out in her backyard. She focused even harder, not even blinking until finally, after a couple minutes of jiggling, the cup tipped over without her touching it.

"Jade!" a voice cried to the child's left. She looked up from her experiment to see her mother staring wide-eyed at her in horror. The little girl grew scared that her mother was frightened of her new ability.

"Mommy-" she started to explain, but she was immediately picked up and carried her to her sky blue-walled bedroom. Her mom shut the door with her foot before placing her daughter on the tiny bed. After looking out the window and shutting the curtains tightly, she knelt down in front of her little girl, Jade, who was beginning to tear up in fear.

"Mommy, I'm sorry, I didn't know I could do it. I wasn't gunna hurt anybody with it, not even Dylan at school and-," she cried, and her mom hushed her by placing a finger over her lips.

"I'm not scared of you, sweetheart, alright?" Jade nodded and sniffed. "I just wasn't expecting this to show up so early."

"What? You knew I could do that?" Jade asked, confused by her mom's statement.

The mom looked down at her feet and took a deep breath. She looked back up to her daughter and sat down next to her on the bed. "Yes, sweetie, because you're not the only one who can do it. But I can't tell you much more than that-,"

"Do you know someone else who can do it? Can Briana do it too? I saw her playing with a magic set once during recess. Maybe it was real?" The mom smiled at Jade's inquiry.

"No, sweetie, I don't think that Briana can do it. But I need you to listen to me very carefully right now. Can you do that for me?" Her little girl confirmed this with a quick nod of her head.

"This power you have is very special and it makes you so wonderful, but you can never tell anyone about it. Not Briana, not Dylan, not anybody," Mom whispered. "Because no matter how special it makes you, it is also very dangerous and it might get you in trouble."

"But I would never do anything bad with it! I would help people with it! If Ms. Baker's cat gets stuck in the tree again I can get it out and the fire department would stop getting mad at her for calling so much and-"

"Jade, sweetheart, you _have _to listen to me very carefully," Mom explained in an urgent voice, shaking Jade's shoulders a bit. "I have no doubt that you can do a lot of good with this, but no matter what you do, people will be scared. They'll be scared because they don't understand. People don't understand what they can't explain. And then they might take you away from me and _that_ is what's scaring me right now." Mom's eyes were beginning to water along with Jade's as she told her the consequences.

Jade sniffled more and her mom stood up and grabbed a tissue from the dresser, handing it to her little girl, who dried off her now very wet face. "I don't want to scare you though, mommy."

"I know you don't sweetie," Mom began rubbing Jade's back as she said, "So please never tell anyone about this. Never practice it at school, at a friend's house, or outside. You can only do it here in your room, and only if you are one hundred percent sure that no one can see you, okay?"

Jade looked to her mom with her wide, wet green eyes. "Can you do it too, mommy?"

"Jade!" Mom cried, exasperated. "Promise me! No one can ever know about this. I don't want anyone to ever hurt you, okay?"

Jade nodded in confirmation, tears beginning to fall from her eyes once more. "Yes mommy, I promise." Mom's mouth tugged itself into a tight smile and she hugged her daughter.

"I love you so much, sweetie."

.oOo.

_March, 2004_

Eighteen year old Jade rushed down the stairs to the kitchen. "Shit, shit, shit," she whispered to herself. For the second time this week, she had woken up late and missed her bus, which meant she had to sprint to school. She sped to the fridge and ripped open the door, grabbing hold of a couple cheddar cheese sticks for a quick breakfast.

"You're late, y'know."

Jade whipped her head to her right where her mother sat calmly, stirring some oatmeal with a spoon and holding a crossword puzzle in her other hand. "Yes, thank you mother. As you can so obviously see, I'm not rushing at all," the teen replied with a snarky tone.

"Sweetie, if you keep up with these late nights, you're going to end up not passing senior year."

"Mom, stop worrying so much. I'm practically an adult. I'll take care of myself," Jade said defiantly, stuffing one of the cheese sticks into her mouth.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about," Mom said exasperatedly.

Jade ignored her mom's comment and decided to change the subject. "Could you put more money into my account so that I can buy lunch? I have no time to make one."

"Fine," Mom sighed quietly, with a wave of her hand.

"Thank you!" Jade jogged over to the front door and began walking quickly down the porch steps.

"I love you!" Mom called after her.

Jade turned her head to glance at her mother. "I know you do!" she called back with a wide smile.

.oOo.

Jade carried her very heavy and full tray to the cashier and scanned her student ID to pay for her food.

"I'm sorry, young lady," the elderly man said to her. "But it looks like you don't have enough in your balance to pay for all this."

"What? But my mom should have updated my account this morning!" Jade explained.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. If you want, you can still buy the milk and the cookie."

The brown haired girl sighed, willing herself to not make a scene.

"Okay," she confirmed quietly.

After paying for her now very small lunch, Jade went outside to the lunch tables to sit with her friends. Before she began eating, she whipped out her cell phone and dialed her mom. The call went to voicemail.

"Mom, it's me, you forgot to put money into my account and by doing so have starved me. Please remember to do it tonight so that I'm not dead by tomorrow. Love you, bye."

"Nice lunch, Jade." Jade looked up at her friend Briana, who was grinning at her friend's situation with her shiny white teeth and bright eyes.

"Shut up, bitch." The word had been a term of endearment between the two girls for many years. "Could I please have a bite of your sandwich?" Jade begged, sitting across from her friend.

Briana sighed. "Here," she said, handing Jade half of her roast beef sandwich. "I had a big breakfast anyway."

"Thank you, you are an amazing person," Jade said gleefully, grabbing the food from her friend.

"You say that as though I don't already know," Briana claimed jokingly. "So has your mom not updated your account or something?"

"Yeah. I told her to do it this morning though," Jade shrugged. "She didn't answer her phone. Kind of unusual for her."

"She was probably in the bathroom or something. I wouldn't worry. So did you hear about what Carol did during her trip to Mexico?"

_She's probably right_, Jade thought, forgetting her whole dilemma and listening intently to the story her friend was beginning to tell her.

.oOo.

"Janis Hawthorne?"

"Hmm?" Jade's head shot up from her desk where she had been dozing for the past five minutes. She saw that the school nurse had entered her English classroom and was looking at her gravely. "Yeah, yeah, that's me. Uh, I'm Jade- ahh- Janis."

"Can you please come with me, honey?" The elderly woman asked with a soothing yet urgent tone. "Bring your books and papers with you."

Jade blinked her eyes a few times to fully wake herself. After stuffing her materials into her backpack which she then threw over her shoulders, she quickly followed the nurse out of the room where her teacher was giving a mundane lecture on early British romantic poetry.

"What's up?" Jade asked, shoving her hands into her pockets casually.

"Hon," the kindly lady began. "I really do hate to be the one to tell you this," she took a breath before finishing her sentence. "There's been an accident involving your mother."

Jade immediately felt her stomach drop. "Wha-what kind of accident?"

"From what I've been told, it was a car accident. She drove off the road into a lake."

"Is she okay? D-did she get hurt? She's okay, right?"

The nurse only shook her head with a look that was shouting sympathy at the poor girl.

"I'm so sorry honey," She responded softly. "She didn't make it."

.oOo.

Two hours after the funeral service was over, Jade sat at her kitchen table, turning an unopened envelope in her hands. It was given to her by her mother's lawyer, and he had told Jade that the will said she had to read it immediately. But it was the last piece she had of her mom and she didn't want to open it too quickly.

She couldn't wait any longer, and she slit it open with her fingernail.

_Sweetheart,_

_I always hoped you would never had to read this letter, but if you are, then life has not been kind. I told my lawyer to give you this letter if I ever died under suspicious circumstances. You might wonder why someone would want to be rid of me._

_I'm sure you remember that day when you were a young girl and discovered that you have an extraordinary ability. I told you that you were not the only one. I had the powers too. So did your grandmother, and her mother, and her mother as well. I am not too sure how far back it goes in generations, but it's safe to say that almost every girl in our immediate family has it. Not all of them discovered it, however, as it requires great concentration and trust in ability, and most people would think that the idea of super powers is preposterous._

_The people that do believe in the talent are usually one of two groups. Those who possess it, and those who want to take advantage of it. Those of the latter group are never good people and you must hide from them. Because you are reading this letter, chances are they found me and did away with me when I refused to take part in their plans._

Jade stopped reading for a moment to absorb these words. She had been told that her mother died in a car accident. But she was not so reckless. Did someone force her off the road? She was never given any specifics on the details of the accident. Jade continued with the letter…

_These people don't look for names or patterns, they simply look for skills and who has them. They're too careful to follow family lines and cause suspicion. They're always watching. Remember to NEVER use your powers in public, under any circumstances. But live a good life. Make it worthwhile. Just because you can't use your powers doesn't mean you can't have an exciting life. This is all I ask. It's all I want for you._

_I love you, sweetheart._

**A/N: Hey guys! I decided to write a story in the Marvel universe because it's my obsession right now. This is through the eyes of an OC, but this will not be a romance story mostly because I suck at those. The next chapter will pick up at the end of CATWS, and then another flashback, and then we're done with flashbacks and we'll stick to the present.**

**This story does have more than one OC, and it will also feature the Winter Soldier at one point, but I haven't included him in the character list because he's really only in one chapter.**

**I've got the first chapter all written up (I'll probably post it soon) and I have an outline for the entire story, so hopefully I won't slack off on this.**

**~Fleur**


	2. Chapter 1

**I do not own any MCU characters, plotlines, or anything else you may recognize.**

**Chapter 1**

_2014_

"_Hey, uh, this is Steve. Um, I'm unable to answer my phone right now, but please leave a message. Thanks."_

"Steve, I swear to God, if you don't answer your phone, I'm going to go insane. Please, please, please let me know if you're okay. Call me back as soon as you get this."

As she pressed the end call-button on her phone, Jade watched the television in horror as three humongous helicarriers fell from the sky into the Potomac. This was not what she expected to happen on her day off.

"Mama, what's happening? There's smoke outside my window. I can hear Ms. Marge crying."

Jade quickly began consoling her four-year-old daughter, Biddy, who was starting to panic because of the overload. "It's okay, Bid," she said, tightly hugging the little curly haired girl. "Everything's going to be okay."

Now twenty-eight, divorced, with a child and seemingly worthless degrees in education and American history, Jade had been hoping for a bleak and uneventful life ahead of her. Throughout her childhood, she had practiced her powers in the privacy of her bedroom. Not because she found it fun, but because she was scared that if she didn't practice, she might lose control. Jade was positive that Biddy would have the powers, but she wasn't looking forward to the day of discovery. She had never told Dylan, Biddy's father, about the family trait and certainly hoped that he would never find out. It wasn't that she didn't trust him… well, it was actually. But Jade decided early on that she would never trust anybody with the truth. It made her a more detached person, but she told herself it was for everyone's protection. This catastrophe could mean really bad news.

"What the hell is happening…?" she whispered as she leaned against the counter to support herself.

_2012_

"_Biddy, get your shoes on, Ms. Marge is watching you today."_

"_Nooo, please stay, mama," the little girl protested._

_Jade sighed. Her daughter was only three years old, but she was already entering her rebellious stage. Marge Phillips was a kindly old lady who Biddy stayed with every few nights while Jade bartended at a local pub. It was one of her two jobs, the other being a tour guide at the Smithsonian, usually with school groups. Jade had gotten the job there with the help of Marge, and the two women had been good friends since then._

_After Biddy finally had her shoes on, Jade was just about to knock on Marge's door, which was right across the hall, when she heard a conversation coming from inside the apartment. Knowing that Marge lived alone, Jade was confused to hear the voice of what sounded like a young man coming from the other side of the door. Hoping she wouldn't be interrupting anything, she knocked three times. The conversation immediately halted._

"_Oh, Janis, Biddy! Please excuse me, I completely forgot about today," Marge greeted the mother and daughter as she opened her door._

"_Hey, Marge. I thought I heard another person, I hope we didn't impose or anything. If you want I can take Biddy to her friend's house today," Jade suggested as she stepped into the cozy apartment with her daughter's hand in hers._

"_Oh, no, no, it's quite alright. I just hope that _you_ don't mind if I have someone else over as well as Biddy," Marge quickly brushed off as she led Jade into the kitchen. "He's an old friend of my father's."_

"_Your father? Oh, I thought it was a younger man you were talking to! I should get my hearing checked or something," she joked._

"_Oh, trust me dear, you have nothing to worry about." Jade followed Marge into the kitchen where she saw a well-built man with styled blond hair. He couldn't have been older than Jade herself. There was something rather familiar about him as well…_

"_Janis, I'd like you to meet Steve. Steve, this is Janis Hawthorne. She lives right across the hall from me with her daughter." Marge introduced the two._

_Steve gave Jade a friendly smile and immediately stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Steve Rogers, ma'am. It's good to meet you."_

"_Steve… Rogers?" Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Marge was the daughter of Colonel Phillips, a superior of Captain America during the war, if her history lessons served her correctly. She had heard news about the superhero possibly being alive and sightings at the whole alien fiasco in New York a few months earlier. It couldn't have been true but… here he was, right in front of her as if he had jumped out from one of her World War II books. Failing at her attempt to hide how star struck she was, she daintily took his hand and shook it slowly, afraid she would break him or he would magically disappear if he were touched. _Good lord, Jade_, she said to herself_, he's not an artifact_. "Um, i-it's nice to meet you too! And please call me Jade. Janis just doesn't work for me," she joked._

"_Will do, Jade."_


End file.
